


Vanilla pines

by Adaltioratendo



Category: Atypical (TV 2017)
Genre: Drug Use, F/F, Friendship/Love, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-23
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:20:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21526636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adaltioratendo/pseuds/Adaltioratendo
Summary: Casey and Izzie navigate through their new relationship, dreams, and family drama.
Relationships: Casey Gardner & Izzie, Casey Gardner/Izzie, Cazzie - Relationship
Comments: 24
Kudos: 293





	1. having you around is enough

**Author's Note:**

> Hi :) 
> 
> Guys, two things;
> 
> English is not my mother language, so, any mistake it's completely mine and I apologize in anticipation. (Now, if someone can be kind enough to help me with a quick reading before I post a new chapter to check for any mistake, It would be gladly appreciated :D)
> 
> In other news.
> 
> This fic is focused on watching the girls, fighting against the odds of having a dysfunctional family, especially Izzie's as they try to survive high school.

She's scared of how much she has smiled ever since this morning.

Actually, she's kinda worried if these types of emotions are even normal to feel for someone like her.

The giddiness. The butterflies wildly dancing in her stomach. The way her heart does a backflip whenever she comes in front of her or even hears her voice. It is enough to have her in a complete daze. Still, she manages to bring that boring expression back on her face once she's downstairs and heads instantly into the kitchen.

Elsa is talking to herself, finally, something creepy but common to happen in this house for a change. She rolls her eyes as Elsa washes the dishes, not even bothering to turn around to see who's invaded the kitchen. Casey takes the orange juice out of the fridge, taking the cap out of the bottle and...

"I don't think so, Honey". Casey takes a step back in surprise as Elsa turns around, that motherly expression on her face tells Casey how 'disappointed she is' of her daughter for not using a glass to drink the damn juice, but before she can say something back, Elsa is landing the glass on the counter, eyeing her daughter with a grin before attending the dishes again.

It is not like her mother could see the faces she's doing her way but she does it anyway as she serves herself a glass of orange juice.

"Oh, Elsa. I need the car tonight". She says, sounding as confident as ever.

"Uh uh. Can't. Your dad is taking the truck to drive some of Sam's things to his apartment and I'm going over to Luisa's".

"But-". She pauses, looking slightly lost because every single plan she had with Izzie is a no go and she really doesn't want to cancel tonight.

"I'm sure you can manage, Case. See you, honey". Elsa says, caressing her daughter's cheek with her hand, much to Casey's dismay, before leaving her alone.

Her mother has changed so much since the barman incident. She's been making amends and actually has succeeded in the whole ‘redemption thing’. Casey knows her family, even if it sounds shocking, they really appreciate the change in the woman too. Still, she needs to bother her mother to no end and right when that hand caresses her cheek, she scowls back at the woman before she leaves.

She checks her phone, opening the chat of that one person who makes her feel nervous and excited all at the same time to give the news of their frustrated plans.

**_The evil is taking the car. Wanna come over instead?_ **

As she waits for an answer, she steps inside Sam's room- or what's left of Sam's room.

When he told the family he was moving out to live with Zahid, she was too stupified to react. Sure, living in the dorm rooms was Sam's previous idea when he started college and that caught her just a little bit off guard, but still, she supported him one way or another. It's just that now it's becoming real. Like, Sam is actually emptying his room and even if she would never recognize it, she's going to miss him. She's even going to miss his stupid little turtle. She’s going to miss sharing a bathroom with him and changing his stupid toothbrush to different places of the house just to get a rise out of him.

She checks her phone for the th time and Izzie has yet to answer. It's kind of weird because it's almost dinner time and they've been texting non-stop since this morning and suddenly she's gone mute, but before she could dwell too much on it, Sam's crossing the door to reach for his closet and starts to fold his clothes as delicate and organized as always.

"Where's your turtle?". She asks behind him.

"Edison is a tortoise“. He says turning around. ”I took him earlier, so he could rest from all the people coming in and out of my room. Tortoises are solitary animals". Sam shrugs.

"Hey, uh-". She scratches the back of her head whenever she's trying to be serious. "Sam, it's this really what you want?". She asks with concern.

"I don't know what you mean". He says confused. His fingers playing in front of his stomach like they always do when he's paying attention to something, and sometimes Casey can easily forget her brother is a literal person and she has to be pretty specific about her questions.

"Do you really want to live with Zahid?".

"Yes, because Zahid is my homie and I'm a grown man". He nods, sure of his words and Casey can't help but smile with pride at him.

“Nice”. She grins and pauses just to have Sam’s eyes on her to slap him on his shoulder before running downstairs and grinning when she hears Sam screaming back at her as she leaves his room.

Her smile dissipates when she checks her phone again. Izzie still hasn’t answer.

“What’s with the face?”. His dad asks, appearing from the kitchen with a box in his hands, finding Casey by the stairs.

“Nothing”. She shakes her head, not controlling how her eyes fall back onto her phone. “Is that our toaster?... You know what? nevermind. I’m going for a run”. She announces, leaving Doug behind as she opens the door.

“Like that?”. She hears Doug’s playful tone, realizing he was pointing at her jeans and converse. “You never run in those types of clothes”.

“I want to look cool”. She answers with sarcasm, not waiting for her dad’s response she goes off, running as fast as she can just to forget how ignored she feels by Izzie.

* * *

_**Izzie. Is everything okay?** _

"Hands off the phone, missy". Elsa scolds her as she passes Casey a glass of water.

Dinner time means no phone.

So, Casey just gives her mother a grimace before getting her phone in one of her pocket jeans just as Sam joins them at the table.

It's not easy to get herself into dinner, or into the conversation going right before her eyes. The fork scratches silently against the plate. Her mind nowhere near to eat the food. Is just, Izzie hasn't answered yet and after the main feeling of a damaged ego for being stood-up, started to dissipate, she started to worry about the girl. She remembers how one of the track team girls told her how ' _Izzie_ ' it is to just disappear out of thin air that now that she thinks about it, maybe it was family-related.

Something has to be going on with Izzie's mom or her siblings and Casey is starting to feel frustrated because she's of no help by sitting here.

"- And Paige is coming to visit twice a week". Casey hears Sam.

"Dude, now that you can do whatever you want without the 'open door, rule', don't get her pregnant". She jested, grinning deviously when Elsa's eyes open like plates as if she's actually realizing the implications of Sam being sexually active and living on his own.

Casey scoffs playfully, because yeah, Sam has had sex. Not something Elsa needs to know though.

"Does that apply for you and Izzie?". Sam asks, his eyes looking at the ceiling as if he's thinking about the answer to his own question, ignoring Casey's murderous expression before she dares to look from the corner of her eyes at her parents' surprised looks written all over their faces. "It made sense with Evan because he's a man, so you guys could reproduce. Izzie is a woman and biologically-".

"Sam, shut up". Casey hisses under her breath.

"- that's impossible for you to have a child. Maybe you could do like Sphen and Magic-"

"Sam".

"- Otherwise, I don't think they should make that rule of you keeping the door open. It's not necessary". He laughs at his own joke, not realizing he just outed his sister to their parents.

It's been just three weeks after she told Izzie that she wasn't looking for easy and after that, they still haven't put a name to what they have. How is she supposed to tell her parents about what they are if she doesn’t know the answer to that either?

God. Elsa is looking at her like she's proud of Casey for going after Izzie. Her dad looks lost and Casey really wants to get out of this house.

"Izzie? As in your friend, Izzie?". Doug asks confused.

She never felt so small before. Something about giving the wrong answer and knowing she could be judged by him is terrifying, to say the least.

It's something that sooner or later she was gonna have to tell, but she didn't expect it to be this soon. Especially not having an early conversation with Izzie to give her the heads up about it.

Her eyes avoid making eye contact with them. Her fingers play with each other above her lap just as Sam does it when he gets terribly anxious about something.

"Is that- Is that going to be a problem?". She asks shyly. However, her chin tilts up in a sign of defiance that lets them know she's getting defensive.

"Oh, honey. Of course not. We're happy for you". Elsa says, clapping her hands together before holding her chin on them, looking at Doug to give Casey a supportive word.

"I- Sure, I mean- Wait is that why you broke up with Evan?". He asks with a confused frown.

"Honey". Elsa slaps his shoulder with the back of her hand.

"Sorry. You know we support you, Casey. If Izzie makes you happy, I'm all for it". He says, finally smiling as he meant it.

"The door policy still applies". Elsa says before getting the fork into her mouth, continuing eating as if nothing is out of the ordinary.

"That's stupid". Sam muses beside her.

"Awesome". Casey smiles. She can feel how that weight it's being lifted off her shoulders and they don't have to hide anymore. "We still- We're not together, but- We just- We're together-". Fine, she’s stuttering and Elsa is looking at her funny. “Whatever”. She rolls her eyes before standing from her chair and going to the kitchen. She Notices the sound of footsteps following her path.

“You haven’t been feeling that stomach ache again, right?”. Elsa asks.

“No”. Her answer didn’t fool anyone.

“You didn’t touch your food?”.

“It's just-”. Casey sighs. “Izzie and I, we were supposed to go out tonight but she hasn't texted me back, and I’m worried”. She lets her phone on the countertop.

“Did you call?”.

“Yes”. Casey says as if it was an obvious thing.

“Honey, I’m sure she’ll come around whenever she’s free. Please, don’t think negatively, it’ll do you guys no good, okay?”.

“But what if-”. She paused when her phone buzzed on the counter.

She’s never answer a phone-call this quick before but here she is, pressing the button and completely ignoring Elsa as she runs past her to go upstairs.

“ _Hi_ ”. She hears Izzie breathe out as she closes the door of her room.

“Hi. Hi… Hi”. _Stupid_. She thinks as she sits on the edge of the bed “ Are you- You okay?”. A part of her is relieved because Izzie is fine, or at least she sounds fine, just kinda tired, but fine. She’s alive, safe and sound.

“ _Yeah. I’m really sorry, Newton. I just- what are the odds of having two people with appendicitis in the span of a few months? first you, and now my brother_ ”.

“Well, shit. Is he okay?”.

“ _He is. Got it in time. I’m staying here until my grandma comes for us_ ”.

“Oh. Sure”. She didn’t mean to sound disappointed.

“ _I’m so sorry. I really wanted to go for those Slurpees_ ”. At least Izzie sounds as disappointed as she did moments ago, and suddenly her smile was forming on her face against her will.

“Hey, I get it. We can do it some other time. I’m glad your brother is okay, Iz”.

“ _Yeah, me too_ ”.

* * *

Casey stretches her arms above her head as she moves her neck from side to side until she could hear the click of her worked out muscles. She jumps in her spot, giving her legs a good shake before starting her morning trot.

It’s been a hard week.

Izzie spent the days at home to help with her siblings and Casey has been dying to see her. Not like she didn't try, but because of Izzie's mother, Izzie decided it was better for her to not mix things up too much. Kinda hurt, but Casey could understand. She knows Izzie's mother is a little bit difficult to deal with... But that recurrent need of wanting to have Izzie close to her is _so_ confusing. She remembers how excited she got when Evan came around to see her, but she never actually craved his company in this way.

The thing with Izzie is that she can’t get enough, and that gets Casey so out of her comfort zone. She feels the angst. The need, and the desire to have Izzie. To touch her. To kiss her. To make her laugh- She can’t help but shake her head at the thoughts. They’ve been consuming her non-stop and it’s getting so terrifying, she’s afraid of messing everything else in her life because of this excruciating want.

She has other things she needs to worry about, like; track. School. Her stupid diet and stupid training, coach Crowley is definitely having fun with watching her suffer. Her family and especially Sam are still a big part of everything too, but her mind is chanting ‘Izzie’ in like a crazy loop.

Sometimes she wonders if she ever fell in love with Evan in the first place.

She loved him. She’s sure of it. She thought she was in love with him too, but now Izzie comes and everything she knew in respect of feelings is being questioned because of these new … Urges. She doesn’t even know how to call them.

Casey turns to her left, her house coming into view as she makes it back after her run, where she could only think about that girl. Girl who stands from the stairs of the front porch when Casey appears behind her parents’ cars.

She comes to a stop a few steps away. Her lips tug up into a smile when Izzie nervously takes a strand of hair behind her ear and bites her bottom lip, waiting for Casey to close the distance.

Casey can see the girl looks tired. It’s like Izzie is barely keeping herself awake, but still, she manages to take Casey’s breath away. She looks so beautiful. So cute. So… Izzie.

“Look at you, Newton. Giving your all already”. Izzie says pointing at her. The way she says it, It's quiet, and so normal of them to playfully greet each other without saying the typical ‘hi’.  
  


“Crowley would kill me if I’m not”. Casey says with that smug smile before taking a step forward. Internally squealing when Izzie copies the movement until they’re both, forehead against forehead.

Her quick breathing washes over Izzie as she tries to calm down after that long run.

“You’re sweaty”. Izzie points out, running her finger against Casey’s temple before chuckling at the wrinkle forming on Casey’s forehead because of the gesture.

“Gross”. Casey groans when Izzie dries her finger against the front of the taller girl’s top.

“Hey”. Izzie greets, her palms caressing Casey’s cheeks with a shyness that gets Casey’s heart to jump against her ribcage. The taller girl’s arms sneak around Izzie’s waist, keeping them grounded right outside the front door of her house, and ignoring anything that can break this little bubble they built in a matter of seconds.

Her stomach was feeling that nervousness that always settles in whenever Izzie is near her. It’s exciting to the point where Casey can jump or run for miles and still be not quite close to stop it, and scary to the point of not knowing how to cope with it or control it, especially because Izzie is there, in her personal space, and she’s warm. She’s incredible. She’s smiling that smile where her dimples are fully showing and Casey can’t really believe she’s this lucky to have her.

She closes the distance until her noses brush against each other. Her breaths mingle and fasten because of the anticipation. Casey closes her eyes first and Izzie couldn’t help but bite her own bottom lip knowing she can get this kind of reaction from Casey, and right before she goes to erase that small distance between them, the front door opens and Sam passes them in a hurry.

“Sam”. Casey groans, stepping back but grasping Izzie’s hand in hers before looking at her brother.

Izzie tries to ignore how cute Casey is when she gets grumpy, but knowing Casey is frustrated because she didn’t get to kiss her was enough to make Izzie smile idiotically at her.

“Hi, Sam”. Izzie waves shyly. conscious at the grip that Casey has on her hand.

She may or may not have kissed Casey at school and finally acknowledge her feelings out in the open for every classmate to see, but showing them in front of Casey’s family is another thing.

“Mmmhh”. He greeted back with a nod. “No time. I have to go”. He turns around, taking off running.

“Bye”. Izzie sings slowly, interlocking her fingers with Casey’s.

“His alarm didn’t go off this morning, so he’s all jazzed-up with getting to college in time”.

It’s Casey’s mischevious smirk that got Izzie’s mouth to drop open.

“Why would you do that?”. Izzie asks. She swats at Casey’s shoulder with the back of her hand, not holding her chuckle at Casey’s behavior. “Seriously, you could get him in trouble”. She reprimands as Casey drives them inside the house.

They walk hand in hand to the kitchen until Casey drops her hold softly to get a glass from the cupboard as Izzie takes a seat by the countertop, eyeing Casey’s moves as she manages her way in the kitchen.

“He’s moving out. I won’t be able to pester him once he’s gone”. Casey shrugs before opening the fridge, and with her back to Izzie, the girl could finally realize how Sam moving out is a huge deal to Casey. The short-haired girl’s shoulders slumped down slightly after finishing that sentence. Her voice got small and lacked that Casey-playfulness in it.

Izzie is sure this is something Casey would need to discuss and vent about. So, she made it her duty to ask her about it later.

“You take things too far sometimes”. Izzie says with a glint in her eyes. Showing Casey, who’s serving herself to a glass of water, that she’s telling her the truth without sounding like Elsa. “Maybe, you can watch a movie with Sam, or whatever it is you guys do to spend more time together in a healthy way. You know? I think that’s better than messing with his schedule”.

“Duly noted”. Casey grins. Steps closer to Izzie’s seat, leaving the glass on the marble surface to put her attention on the brunette.

It's Casey trying to look smooth that got Izzie to laugh out loud before grabbing the girl’s top to bring her closer.

Jesus, her stomach goes crazy whenever Casey is touching her.

Her hands find the girl’s jaw while Casey’s go straight to her waist, and their smiles die down.

Lips find her way to her cheek, it’s soft and such a Casey thing to do. Always showing Izzie how soft and careful she is around her until finally, the softness of the girl’s lips press against hers.

It takes them a while to start moving, to finally come out of the shock that comes whenever they kiss, and Izzie smiles into the kiss when Casey brings her incredibly closer to her. Izzie’s feet press against the wooden bars of the stool to bring some leverage for herself. Not wanting to end the kiss too soon, because Casey is tall, and she’s at an even worse disadvantage now for being on that seat.

“Newt-”. She tries to mumble only to have Casey gently getting her on her feet, and Izzie can’t do anything else other than complying with the request.

Then Casey is leaning back in again. Her left arm going around Izzie’s waist as the other grabs at her hipbone. It is so demanding, and a new part of Casey for Izzie to see. A girl taking charge of what she wants, and just as it’s happening with Casey, Izzie is also rendering to the kiss. She feels powerless and full of energy at the same time. She wants Casey to consume her all, and her arms are flying to the girl’s neck, locking them in place as their lips parted and when something wet flicks at her lips, Izzie is sure she’s about to die, because out of all the times they’ve kissed, they never crossed that line, but it feels so good. So, so good she’s sure she’s about to pass out, but she opens her mouth, granting permission and Casey’s tongue slides into her mouth with a soft brush against hers. She hears Casey’s intake of breath and Izzie is pretty sure her heart is nearly jumping out of her chest.

This kiss meant something else. How much they want each other. How they make each other feel and how easily it can be for them to just forget about the world when they’re with the other in the same room.

It’s like nothing they’ve ever known before.

it’s new and scary in so many ways, but they’re here. Wanting this and going for it.

“Woah”. Casey breathes out as best as she can when they pull apart.

“Yeah”. They smile out of breath, remembering they did this when they had their first kiss.

The front door clicks open and they jump out of their embrace in the blink of an eye, afraid of getting caught. Casey stands beside the fridge and Izzie is already back on the stool by the time Sam makes it into the kitchen.

“Sam?”. Casey asks confused. She misses how Izzie re-arranged her clothes, hiding the blush as she tilts her head down.

“Yes, that's me”. He passes her, opening the fridge and taking a chocolate muffin from it.

“What are you doing here?”. She tries again, seeing the annoyed expression on his face, she started to worry.

“I lost the bus. This means I should have had to wait twenty minutes for the next one and I was already late for ten minutes to my first and only class of the day. I did not make it. Hence why I’m here”. He answers before leaving the room.

It leaves Casey to deal with the guilt and for Izzie to eye her with an ‘ _I told you so_ ’, ‘ _fix it_ ’ look on her face, which didn’t make her feel any better at all.

“You _went_ too far, Newton”. Izzie expresses it verbally anyway, and Casey groans at that.

Because, yes. She did go too far. It happens sometimes, she doesn’t always measure the consequences of her pranks until they happen and now Sam is paying for it.

“I’ll talk to him later. You want breakfast?”. Casey points to the fridge, a good way to get Izzie out of her hair with her screwed-up prank.

Izzie shakes her head at Casey’s antics before falling into it, accepting the offer.

“I’ll help”. She says, jumping from the stool, and joining Casey by her side with shy smiles on their face.

//

It was a quiet breakfast. Shy glances and soft touches shared between the two girls before cleaning the kitchen and going to Casey’s room.

It was barely 09:30 a.m and after going through Netflix a couple of times, they decided to watch, in a surprising choice of Izzie herself, Mulan.

It didn’t take long for Casey to notice the black-haired girl was starting to doze off into dreamland right in the middle of the film. Weighing her options, she decided to let the girl sleep.

Izzie did look tired when she arrived and they didn’t talk that much during breakfast at all.

Casey didn’t know if asking about Izzie’s family was a good idea. The last time she tried to ask, well, Izzie did say what happened back then but didn’t actually get her the details until the girl made it to Casey’s later in the night. So, probably pushing Izzie over wasn’t a good thing to do. She’ll come to her whenever she’s ready to talk.

Still, she can’t shake the feeling that Izzie taking care of her siblings has to go much deeper than just her younger brother having appendicitis.

“I can hear you thinking, Newton”. Izzie says, startling Casey, who looked to her right to see Izzie moving slowly around until her head was resting on Casey’s shoulder with an arm across the taller girl’s waist. “Is this okay?”. Her voice indicated that she was still rather sleepy.

“Of course”. Casey says. Maybe a little bit too fast for her own liking, but having Izzie so close to her makes her dizzy. In a good way. Thing that didn’t go unnoticed by Izzie, who let out a tired giggle against her neck before snuggling against it. Casey’s breathing got caught in her throat at the gesture before relaxing and wrapping Izzie in her arms.

“I'll join you for a nap, running tires me”.

“I can imagine. You’re pushing yourself to the edge”. Izzie sounds like she’s about to doze off, and Casey couldn't help the smile at the sight. “You should probably shower after your runs, too”.

“Oh, shut up”.

Maybe she can let this go for now. Maybe having Izzie in her arms is too big of a dream for her to ruin it with something that can clearly wait.


	2. Izzie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izzie's pov and a look at her feelings.

When she went for a nap, she meant for like one hour top, so, imagine her surprise when she realized it was already 1 p.m.

She woke up first. Casey was still out like a light when she left the bed. Her arms stretch behind her head and decided it was best to just let the girl sleep for a little while. Izzie has been seeing how hard Casey is working with the whole training and diet thing. She gets it. If she could have the same opportunity, she won’t even doubt about giving her all for that kinda dream.

The knock on the door startles Izzie, who turned her head to look at the source of the sound, only to find Elsa peeking her head through the door.

“Izzie, hi”. Elsa says with enthusiasm.

“Hi, Mrs. Gardner”. She whispers, taking a short look at a still sleeping Casey.

The gesture got Elsa’s curiosity to peak up. The older woman opened the door wider, finally understanding why Izzie’s worried expression crossed over her features.

“We fell asleep. Should I wake her up?”. She asks nervously, touching her earring in a desperate intent to keep herself calm around Casey’s mom.

She doesn’t know where she stands with Casey’s family. She doesn’t know if Casey’s parents know about them as Sam does, and she doesn’t want them to look at her differently. Because even if she’s never told this to Casey. The Gardners have become important to her.

“It’s okay, honey. She wakes up every day at 6:30 a.m to go for her morning runs”. Elsa whisper. “I’m gonna make lunch if you want to join me downstairs?”. She says with a gesture of her hands.

“Sure. Yeah”. She nods, throwing one last glance toward the figure lying on the bed before following Elsa to the kitchen.

//

"Are you sure you don't want to stay? I've been told my lasagna is to die for". Elsa stated.

"I'd love to, Mrs. Gardner, but I really have to go home". She lets out downcast.

Its followed by silence.

A part of her really wanted to stay. The energy in this house is so incredible she would like to just absorb it all and drown in it for many years to come. She’d like to stay because this place is so far away from her own reality back at home that if it weren’t for her siblings, she wouldn’t have looked back twice about leaving that miserable place.

"Sweetie-". Elsa starts, and Izzie recognizes the worried-motherly tone she lets out whenever she sees something flick through someone’s expression that’s out of the ordinary.

"-My mom went out of town with his stupid boyfriend, didn't even have the decency to come back when my brother was at the hospital, so my grandma and I are taking care of my siblings". Izzie let out in one shaky breath.

She’s thankful for Elsa. For not asking any more questions but offers a silent comfort in the form of a hug.

If someone can perfectly understand what she’s going through; it’s Elsa.

“You know you have our support for whatever you need”. The woman mumbles against her shoulder, and Izzie couldn’t help but hug just a little bit tighter before letting goo. “Thanks”. Izzie dries the tears that fell down her cheeks with the sleeve of her hoodie as Elsa steps back, giving her room to breathe. “Can you- please don’t tell Casey”.

“I thought she knew?”. Elsa says confused.

“I don’t want to tell her. I just-”. She sighs. Her fingers nervously playing with the edges of her sleeves.

“You can tell me, honey”.

“She seems to worry too much, and I’ve seen how she gets, like… Like she wants to take the burden off of me, and I’m scared to let her do that. She has so many things on her shoulders already, I don’t want to be a distraction”.

“Oh, honey. You’re not. You could never be a distraction”. Both of them know Elsa is lying.

Elsa knows how her daughter gets when it comes to Izzie’s wellbeing. She has seen it. In the end, no one can step over Casey’s decisions and Elsa learned not to meddle too much.

That’s something Casey needs to learn on her own.

“She gets too personally involved, and this isn’t something she can-”.

“Fix”. Elsa finished for her. “I understand. It runs in the Gardner's blood. That’s why you have to talk to her about it. You know Casey, she’ll take a step back if you tell her”. Izzie nods at that.

That’s when she sees a figure running back upstairs from the corner of her eyes, and sighs in frustration.

“That was her, wasn’t it?”. Elsa asks, and Izzie’s surprised to see how the woman could recognize every single expression on her face and be so in tune with them.

She really is a good mother.

“Yeah. Excuse me, I think I’m gonna go kill someone”. She tries to joke, but her sad tone betrayed her.

“Have no mercy”. Elsa jokes back. “Seriously, honey. You have each other. Communicate”. She pats the girl’s shoulder gently before going back to chopping onions.

Izzie took that as a sign of being dismissed from the kitchen.

“Doors stays open, though. That’s a rule for every partner of my children”. Elsa says suddenly, and Izzie’s blood runs cold.

“I-”. She stutters, turning slowly around to look at Elsa with fear.

“Sam let it out at dinner a few nights back. Just so you know, you’re welcome here just like always and nothing is gonna change”. Elsa explains, trying to hold her smile at Izzie’s red face and nervous lip biting she was doing.

“Thank you, Mrs. Gardner”. Izzie answers tentatively, earning her a nod from the older woman before Elsa turns her back at Izzie.

That’s when she let the woman with her cooking, going straight to Casey’s room.

“Oh, hi. I just woke up. How are you?”. Casey says awkwardly. She stretches from her seat on the edge of the bed, clearing her throat and avoiding eye contact.

“You’re sneaking up on people now?”. Izzie says. Her tone didn’t mean anything hurtful and Casey could finally let out the breath she was holding in.

“I didn’t mean to”.

“I’m not so sure about that”. Izzie lets out, crossing her arms above her chest and Casey realized she wasn’t off of the hook yet.

Izzie’s eyes narrowed and Casey gulped.

Okay, maybe she was having a little too much fun with Casey’s awkward acting, but a part of her still was upset that the girl was listening to a private conversation and didn’t give her a heads-up about her entire family knowing about them.

“I was worried. Okay? And you won’t talk to me about it. How was I supposed to do something to help?-”.

“Stop right there, Newton. I don’t need your help-”. Izzie’s tone hardening with every sentence’s got Casey to feel extremely on edge.

“I meant-”.

“-I’ve been doing this for the last five years of my life. I don’t need a savior”. She lashes out, her tone harsh and that’s when she realized she was doing it again. She was being unfair. She was taking her frustration out on Casey and she really needs to work on how to keep her composure.

“Iz-”.

“I’m sorry”. Izzie announces rubbing her forehead before letting her arm fall against her side. “I don’t need a hero, Casey. I just want someone who can supports me without interfering with my personal life”.

“I get it. I do”.

Izzie quirks her eyebrows. “I know you’re the protective type, Newton. Just, please trust me on this. Can you do that?”. She asks gently.

_Don’t be like Elsa. Don’t be like Elsa._ Casey repeats in a crazy loop.

She can’t meddle. She can’t take Izzie away from the hideous mother she has. She can’t change Izzie's life at home, but she sure as hell can support her with day-to-day things. Like; going on a date. Watch a movie. A sleepover.

Distraction.

She can do that.

“Okay. No hero complex allowed”. Casey swears, taking a hand to her heart, relaxing when Izzie gave her a faint smile.

That’s the best Casey’s gonna get for now. She knows.

“I didn’t mean to sound so harsh”.

“Hey, I know we have a lot to work on. We’re impulsive... And hormonal as shit”. Casey says, opening her arms for Izzie to step in.

“Newton, you smell. I’m not gonna hug you”. Izzie jested with a grimace.

“I’ll let you know this is how working ladies smell like”. Casey raises her arms, ignoring the embarrassment of having Izzie seeing her in her smelly-self, just to enjoy watching her laugh, even if it is at this.

“No, I don’t think so”. Izzie shakes her head adoringly at her, giving Casey a big smile.

“Of course it is, this is the smell of victory”. She says, stepping dangerously close to Izzie with a devious grin.

Realization drew on Izzie’s face when she noticed Casey’s intentions.

“Casey. You want cheese on your salad?”. Elsa appears behind the door, breaking the small, playful moment of the girls.

//

In the end, Izzie stayed for lunch.

After calling her grandmother, she got the green light to stay for a few more hours in the Gardner residence.

It was a women’s lunch today.

Casey’s dad was out working.

Sam still hasn’t entirely moved-in to his apartment but goes every free period he has in college to spend it with Edison. The tortoise is the first official member to claim a place in Sam’s room, so, Casey’s brother has been pretty attentive with his pet.

He’s learning to fall asleep without Edison by his side (a thing that Casey thinks is stupid, given that he’s gonna share room with the ‘turtle’ again in a few days). He’s learning not to fall into a routine. He’s learning to not get attached to anything or anyone and he’s coping with it at a pretty slow but sure pace. Well, not counting the meltdown he had the first four days because he couldn’t fall asleep without the sound of Edison’s tiny feet resounding against the glass, but he remembered Izzie’s Idea about smelling the container of food to calm himself down.

It didn’t work at Zahid’s, but it did the trick in his own room.

So, Izzie did felt kinda proud of that when Elsa told her the story.

Then, it was time to leave.

She said her proper goodbyes to Elsa before retrieving to Casey’s room to get her things. It’s when she sneaked up on Casey to steal a quick but sweet kiss.

Do you know that feeling you get when you smile too much and apparently there’s nothing that can’t stop it from appearing? Okay, she’s feeling that.

It hurts like shit. Her muscles are sore, but she’s happy. It’s all that matters.

Elsa has been great with her. Maybe it’s the fact that both have shitty mothers and their childhood wasn’t the best to go by. They understand each other.

Elsa gets her like no one else. It’s easy to trust her, and she’s afraid if there could be a tiny chance that Casey can feel uncomfortable with that.

It’s just that she never had a good mother figure, and Elsa has done more for her in a few months than what her mother has done in sixteen years. Her grandmother is amazing too, but sometimes, she judges too much, and well, her mother is obviously out of the discussion.

Even the thought of her mother couldn’t take her good mood away. It was a really good morning, and even if Casey’s sweaty smell wasn’t the pleasest thing to sleep to, the girl still has that sweet vanilla scent in her that soothes her. Comforts her. Where she feels safe.

There, between Casey's arms and her supportive family.

It wasn’t until she arrived home that all trace of a smile erased from her.

Her grandma was asleep on the couch in a position that was surely gonna leave her a sore neck. Her arms holding barely at an awake little girl. in place.

“Hi, Alice”. Izzie greats enthusiastically as low as she could to not startle the little girl before taking her in her arms.

The place looked so clean and a part of her ache with rage.

She’s so thankful for her grandma for sticking around to take care of them. Even if her grandchildren are not her responsibility, she never fails them when Izzie’s mother goes away.

Her mother should be here. Her mother should be playing that type of roll in their lives.

“Did you wake her up?”. She hears from the couch. Her grandma was in her mid-sixties, still, she looked so great in there, rubbing her neck and smiling at her oldest granddaughter.

“She was full-on babbling when I got here”. Izzie explains, taking the babby’s little hand between her fingers, making funny faces at her to make her giggle. “Izzie. Come on, Alice. Say, Izzie”. She repeats her name a few times, only to have the babby’s eyes on hers, not entirely understanding.

“You may get her to say it in a few months. It’s short and easy to pronounce”. Her grandma says as she moves through the kitchen to prepare, what Izzie could see is a sandwich.

“I read that babies learn three words when they passed the year”. She huffs in pain, freeing the strand of hair out of the tiny hands of Alice.

“It varies, sweetie. Alice’s an eight-month baby”. She says, presenting the sandwich to Izzie. “Give this to your brother and I’ll take care of this little demon”. They exchange as her grandma said, before leaving the kitchen to go in into her brother’s room.

“You got bored with your boyfriend?”.

“Shut up, Trent”. She chuckles, sitting beside him and giving him the sandwich. “You didn’t eat?”. She needed to change the subject. Her love-life is not something she wants to discuss with her family just yet.

“My stomach feels funny sometimes. Thanks”. He says before taking a bite from the food.

“I think this is you taking advantage of having three women taking care of you”. She teases.

“I don’t know if having Tessa jumping all over me, because she wants to play, counts as taking care of me at all”. He shrugs.

“Where is she anyway?”. She scrunches her nose.

“Playing with the neighbor”. He turns to look at her. “Did grandma tell you?”. He asks, only to find a confusing look on Izzie’s eyes. “They found mom. She was high as fuck, Iz. She’s sleeping in her room”.

It took a while for Izzie to bring that stoic expression back in her face, but she knows she didn’t fool anyone, and she found herself gulping against a thickened throat as the only way to not break there and then.

“The boyfriend?”. She says with spite in her tone.

“Just her”. He whispers.

"Did she- You know. Was it too chaotic?".

"No. She just went straight to her room".

She stares blankly at the wall behind her brother’s shoulder. “Okay. Okay”. She shakes her head, trying to sound confident. “And stop swearing, you’re only twelve”. She reprimands, rubbing his hair, she scoffs out a laugh when he huffed in annoyance.

When she closes the door, her facade falls off.

She’s so tired of dealing with this. She’s so tired of seeing her grandma dealing with this. She’s so tired of having to lie to her little sister about this. Then her mother comes in and acts like everything is completely fine like she just left for a business trip or some other shit she invents at the moment for Tessa, her seven-year-old sister, to stay calm.

Trent, just like her, can perfectly tell what’s going on. He, as much as her, had to grow up earlier because of it. Izzie sometimes wasn’t able to take care of them, so Trent stepped up into that role when she couldn’t. Her grandmother couldn’t help them all the time. So, they learned to survive it.

“He told you, didn’t he?”. Her grandmother asked when Izzie made it back into the living room.

“Yeah”. She sighs.

“Blake brought her back, she was-”.

“Did Tessa saw her?”. Izzie asks, ignoring the way her body flinched at the name of her mother's boyfriend. She knows is rude to interrupt but she’s nowhere close to care about her mother’s whereabouts. She wants to hear that Tessa didn’t have to see her mother in those conditions.

She has seen her. The way she sways her body. How unfocused her eyes get and it’s a scary picture because her mother started with painkillers; Vicodin, and then escalated to much more worse drugs. It got worse ever since Blake came along and she doesn’t even want to ask in what type of drugs her mother is in, in case she gets too out of control and does or say something she might regret.

“No, she was playing next door”.

“Good. I’m gonna take a shower, is that okay?”. She points to the bathroom door.

“Of course”.

* * *

Casey visits her Sunday night.

And Casey’s so wonderful. So solid. So attentive that Izzie’s first reaction when she saw her standing outside her door was hugging her for a long period of time.

God, she loves how Casey smells.

The next conversation is a silent one.

Casey knows the situation that Izzie is in, so she takes Izzie’s hand and guides her to the passenger door of her car. She motions for Izzie to get in as she walks around, getting in the driver seat.

The short-haired girl takes a bag of Twizzlers out of the car’s glovebox and offers them to Izzie with that one-sided-shy smirk of hers and Izzie melted right there.

“I don’t even know how to thank you for this. I love Twizzlers”. Izzie says eagerly as she opens them

“I know. Like, remember that time I was almost dying in bed and you brought me _your_ favorite candy?. No one ever cared so much about me before”. Casey remembers with a sign of playfulness in her voice.

“I didn’t know what your favorite sweet was back then”. Izzie answers with the same tone, offering her Twizzlers to Casey.

Somewhere in their endless conversations and some crappy romantic music in the background and some stolen kisses here and there, Izzie remembered to ask Casey about what Elsa said yesterday.

“You never told me your family knew about us, Newton”.

“Oh shit. Jesus, Elsa”. Casey grunts. “In my defense, Sam rat us out”. Casey raises her arms in defense.

“How come?”. Izzie asks normally.

She freaked out enough already for so simple things, she really meant it when she said to Casey that she’s done with being weird about it. She knows Casey’s family supports them. She’s in no need of being afraid.

“Sam was telling my mom that Paige was going to visit him twice a week and then I made a comment about how he now can do whatever he pleases and to not get Paige pregnant”. Casey flinches at the picture in her head of a pregnant Paige, making Izzie laugh adorably at her.

“So?”.

“Then Sam said we don’t need the open door policy thingy because I can’t get you pregnant”. Izzie coughs awkwardly at that. “Well, not exactly the words he used but you get the point”.

“We’re not even having sex. God, what would your parents think?”. She was blushing, she knows, and she knows Casey knows she’s blushing.

“Do you want to?”. Casey asks, moving her eyebrows at a rapid pace, in a suggestive manner that got Izzie’s laugh to intensified.

“You’re an idiot”. She says between giggles and Casey’s face beams at the sight.

If it were someone else, Izzie’s sure Casey would find this to be really cringey, like some lame romantic comedy where you can tell with just one stupid and smitten expression how each other feels.

“Izzie”. Casey says, suddenly her playful-self nowhere to be seen, and her fingers were playing with the steering wheel.

“Is everything okay?”. Izzie leans forward, trying to catch Casey’s eyes in hers.

“Yeah. I was just thinking that- Are we an item? Like, are you- Are we together? like, officially. Something monogamous?”. Casey asks in a small but serious tone and still, Izzie couldn’t help but bit her lip at the sight. Seriously, Casey’s gonna be the death of her. She’s never met someone like her, the way she expresses herself, even if sometimes it’s hard for Casey ‘cause Izzie knows the girl tries to act tough in front of everyone, that she can’t stop it from seeing the scene with an adorable smile printed on her face.

“If this is your way of asking if we’re girlfriends, Newton. Let me tell you, you’re gonna have to step up your game”. She teases and finally, she gets a grin from the girl, the one she can’t help but answer back in the same way. “Yes, Casey. This is a monogamous thing for me”. She finally answers, grabbing the girl’s hand and kissing her softly before letting it go.

“Awesome”.

* * *

Her mother has a headache again.

It’s Wednesday and she’s been getting her siblings ready for school these last couple of days.

It’s exhausting.

Trent tends to tease Tessa and it always ends with a screaming match in the middle of breakfast. Sometimes Alice is in a big fucking mood; She would throw the food around. She would get extremely anxious about the screaming going on in front of her eyes and she would cry because of it.

She’s sure her eardrums are gonna explode one of these days.

However, she makes it out alive every single time.

She drops her siblings at school before she takes the bus to Clayton.

“Girl, your freckles are on point today, I love them”. Quinn says as Izzie steps inside the building. Both girls walk side by side by the hall until they reach Izzie’s locker.

“You always say that”. Izzie huffs entertained.

She opens the locker, bringing her biology book out and putting it in her backpack when a finger taps her shoulder.

“Hey, stranger”.and when she turns around, Casey’s there, giving her that one-sided smile Izzie loves so much.

“Hi, you”. She answers flirtatiously, sneaking her arms around the taller’s girl neck. She stands on her tiptoes to close the remaining distance, giving her a short kiss in the middle of a crowded hallway, with Quinn right behind her.

“Geez, girls. Keep it PG”. Penelope says, appearing behind Casey. The track team girls eye them with a glint in their eyes.

They’re probably doing it because Izzie and Casey wear red on their cheeks, and Izzie fidges with the strips of her backpack as Casey scratches the back of her neck.

Sometimes it's hard for Izzie to wrap her mind around the fact that the whole school knows about them, and even if there were some bad-homophobic comments going around, she’s thankful to have the full support of the track team.

She never had a problem with PDA before. She used to kiss Nate in the halls and in front of everyone, but with Casey is so easy to just let herself go. She gets so into the kisses that she really just forgets where she is and well, even if they never have crossed the line of getting too heavy on their make-out sessions, it doesn’t mean she’s not feeling it.

“You guys are too cute”.

“And too easy to tease”. Quinn adds before blowing a kiss to the couple and leaving them alone in the hall.

“Come on, I’ll walk you to class”. Casey tugs on Izzie’s hand, bringing her along the way to the classroom.

“We have the same class, you dummy”. Izzie giggles, interlacing their fingers in the process.

It can get a little too heavy for her sometimes.

Students stare too much and she can hear them mumbling to each other and the paranoic part of her gets anxious at that. However, she still can control it, and even if sometimes the desire to just drop Casey’s hand and get far away from school, gets too much, she remembers how hurt the girl got with her actions in the past and she vowed to herself and even said it to Casey; She’s done being weird about this.

It's a mantra.

She’d like to be like Casey. The girl is so straightforward. She’s protective of the decisions she makes. She protects her people, and there is Izzie, looking at Casey, who walks across the hall by her side, with her head held high. As if she’s fucking proud of being able to walk hand-in-hand with Izzie. It gets her chest to expand at the sight.

The thing is; Casey’s always been braver than her.

… But she’s learning. Little by little, she’s lowering her defenses around everyone who thinks she’s the perfect girl. She’s so done with pretending, and even if it’s something that it’ll take time to shake off because she got so good at pretending it, she’s starting to live for her.

One of them is being with Casey freely out in the open, trying to shut out the bad comments.

“Newton?”. Izzie asks once they reached their seats in the lab.

“Yeah?”.

“Do you think we can go for that Slurpee this Friday?”.

“Sure”. Casey whispers into the classroom when she noticed the professor was already by the board.

“Awesome. It’s a date then”. And suddenly, her day just got better when Casey gave her a ridiculous besotted smile, over her way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The best way to spur a writer on, are reviews :) Have a good day/night.
> 
> Remember to ask Netflix and SPTV to renew atypical for a new season. We need to see our babies on the screen *.*
> 
> Also, Fivel can step on me and I'll thank her.


	3. There's love. There's hope

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, your reviews are giving me life. Thank you so much! I'm sending you guys lots of kisses.
> 
> Sorry for the long wait. Hope this chapter makes up for it.
> 
> I wanted to do it longer but I actually thought it was a great way to end it there ;)

He always looks at them with a small sign of disgust.

Whenever they're at Casey's locker and Nate arrives, they get into this intense staring contest.

Until Izzie steps in the middle. Her back always towards Nate, giving Casey one of her signature looks, pleading her to not engage in any kind of fight that could jeopardize her scholarship to UCLA in the near future.

It works... For the most part. Casey would go through her locker. Collecting the things she's gonna need for the next class and ditching the ones she's not. All of it as she throws a few daggers with her eyes across the room to an angry Nate behind Izzie.

After the ‘milkshake incident’. Nate required a change of lockers but as everyone got one already designated, the school changed him four lockers away from Casey’s after one of the students was nice enough to change hers with Nate’s.

Casey can't help it. She likes to get into people’s nerves, and given that Izzie was shorter than both of them, they could still throw poison at the other waiting to see who riled up the other first.

"So, date? Tomorrow night?". Casey asks, giving Nate a glance over. He shakes his head irritatedly when he hears Casey's question. And she sees Izzie stepping forward into her personal space with a neutral face.

"Yep". It's when the girls hear the loud shut of the locker, and Izzie flinches at the sound before she sees Nate's figure stepping away from the corner of her eyes as he makes it into the hall, finally disappearing from the girl’s vision. "You did it on purpose". Izzie claims.

"No, I didn't". Casey defends herself. Closing the locker. Turning to the side. Izzie stares right back at her. "Fine. So, what? He called me ‘bitch’, remember?".

"That was like three months ago... Besides, you punched his milkshake all over him, you can call it even". Izzie laces their fingers together.

"I didn't punch it. I bopped it".

"Newton". Izzie raises her eyebrows.

"What are you? Elsa?". Casey jokes, but Izzie's face was telling the opposite. "Fine. Can't say I didn't enjoy it". Casey pouts. Pulling Izzie along with her to the next class.

"Obviously".

//

Casey hates Biology... And maths... And physics... Oh, and she also hates economy.

She hates them, even more, when she has to study them. It's like it doesn't matter how much effort she puts into it, still, it's not enough and ends up getting C's. Sometimes, if she's lucky, she'll get B’s.

Izzie's an A grade student and even if they have studied together a few times, somewhere between Izzie's explanations and exercises, she gets lost. She'd be writing tips on her textbooks and suddenly she'll just give Izzie a glance over only to stay glued looking at the way Izzie's lips move.

How Izzie's cute hands would articulate when she talks, and how she would take the strands of hairs behind her ears that fall whenever she's looking down at the books in her lap.

That's when Casey fails to understand the subject.

So, she grumbles. Throws the books at the end of the bed and falls against her mattress. Sighing in content when she remembers that tomorrow she's got a date. Her hands slip beneath the pillow where her head lays and looks at the ceiling.

Everything is more important than Biology right now.

Until Sam steps heavily into her room from the bathroom door. "Where's my toothbrush!?". He exclaims as he holds the toothpaste in one of his hands.

"I don't know what you're talking about". She shrugs with a devious grin before she sits on the bed to look at him.

"Give it back!". He stomps his foot against the carpet right as her bedroom door opens and Doug makes it into the room as well.

"What's going on?".

"Casey took my toothbrush and hid it somewhere". He twitches his shoulder and those are the moments where Casey feels a tiny bit guilty. He would always get anxious and sometimes she just gets too carried away with her pranks that when she sees the signs in Sam's body language that he's getting overly-stressed. She'd think it's better to never do something like that again... Until she forgets it and does it again anyway.

"Dude, you wanted to change your routine. I changed your toothbrush. That’s a small step“.

"I decided I don’t want to change my routine“.

"That's super bipolar". She huffs, ignoring Doug's eyes on her.

"That doesn't even make sense. Bipolar; is a mental disorder that causes periods of depression and abnormally elevated moo-".

"Ugh, fine. Here". She goes to the desk. Open its drawer and takes the item from it. Giving it to Sam who takes it with a nod before closing the bathroom door behind him.

"Is there a way you can leave your brother alone'?". Doug asks, finally making its presence known.

"Never". She jumps into the bed. Missing the way Doug shakes his head.

"What's that?".

"I'm studying". She shrugs, looking at the papers and textbooks above her bed, but her mind has been on other things lately and actually she was looking forward to talking to her dad about it.

It's embarrassing as fuck but she really needs some advice on how to do this right.

"That’s nice to see. I'll leave you to it". He waves his hand to his daughter, turning around to leave when Casey calls him over.

Casey sits Indian style in the middle of the bed. She watches how her dad takes a seat by the end of the bed and at this moment she feels extremely stupid. She could've just googled it and save herself the embarrassment of having to ask.

"When you met mom, you took her out on dates. Right?". She alternates her eyes between Doug and the carpet on the floor because suddenly she finds the carpet to be extremely distracting. It's dirty and she really needs to clean it. Possibly, right now. Like, run away with it and especially from the excruciating gaze of her dad. Maybe she's just gonna take it in her hands and take it to the front yard to give it a wash-

"I did". Doug nods. "Casey?". He reaches with his hand to grab hers, and that got Casey to finally allow him to see the vulnerability in her eyes.

"I- What did you do?". And that's when Doug finally understood.

"Well, I took her to carnivals. When she went to NY, I took her to some concerts and even she surprised me with tickets once. We did everything traditional and not so traditional, but I remember the first time I took her to my parents' cabin. I think that that was, uh- The best one". He smiles automatically and it's such a bright smile that Casey can't help but return.

He really got over Elsa's worst-mistake-ever and watching him so into his marriage again and reminiscing about his best dates with the woman of her life, made her feel hopeful.

"What happened?". She mutters, and surprisingly, she's actually interested in knowing the rest of the story.

"Well, I drove over there. I told your mom we were gonna get out of the city for the day, but I actually had the cabin for an entire weekend. I even asked for your mother's mother's permission-".

Casey scrunches her nose. "That lady sucks".

"Yes, she does". He nods. "Don't tell your mom we said that". He asks, always in the slow, relaxing tone. It earned him a chuckle out of Casey before he continued. A Rose bouquet was waiting by the front porch-". Okay, Casey did scowl at that, because; Iugh. Too cheesy, but it was cute to know her dad put that much effort in a date. "- And a friend of mine, he helped me with the whole arrangement thing. We got a nice dinner under the candles. Went star gazing. Had a couple of hikes and even visited the city before we headed back".

"That actually sounds nice- Except, maybe, the rose bouquet thing and the star gazing". She teases. "Thank you, dad". She squeezes his hand.

"Listen, Case. I don't want you to think that you can't talk to me about... Your partners". He says with difficulty. He'll always see Casey as his little baby. "Evan was a good guy".

"Is". Casey corrects with melancholy in her voice. She still misses him.

"Evan is a good guy. I don't know Izzie that much, but now that I paid attention. You have this glow on you and you smile more often, and I've never seen you like that, not even with Evan".

"Oh, no. Don't get sappy on me, you're spending too much time with Elsa. Don't do that". She embraces herself as a way to hide the awkwardness.

"I'm just telling the truth. Anyway. I did that when your mom made it back from New York, and we were both adults. So, there's no saying that I'm not gonna give you the permission for something like that until you're at least twenty-one. I know what teens do when you're alone".

"Gross!". She pushes him away until Doug stands from the bed. He smiles tenderly by the door. "I just wanted to do something nice for her. She's going through lots of problems at home".

"We can arrange something. I can give you the keys if you go with Sam. Oh and Zahid". He nods as if his idea was the smarter one of them all.

"Nope". Casey shakes her head. "Can you please trust me on this? Izzie and I- We're not near ready to take that step". She's blushing. She's full-on blushing and her face feels hot and she really wants to jump beneath the comforter and buries herself in there until she could disappear, but she really wants to give Izzie a nice getaway, and she really wants to impress her. "I want her to be able to relax". She waits expectantly.

"I'll talk to your mother". Doug gives away.

And Casey can't stop the happy dance going on in her head, because Elsa loves Izzie. So she's got this in the bag.

**Can you get the weekend off?.** She sends the text only to have a quick answer back.

**_I'll have to ask my grandma to take the kids in but yes I think so. Why? Got something in mind?_** 😀

**Oh, you have no idea 😈**

**_That's one kinky emoji_ **

And Casey flusters all over because she didn't mean to sound like that

//

There are times when Casey thinks grown-ups are actually the only ones with their minds in the gutter all the time. Like, every single person has said something about sex when it comes to Izzie and her being alone in a room.

Her dad. Elsa. The track team. Seriously, do they scream sexually active for people to think the worse?.

The thing is. Elsa got the brilliant idea of having a family weekend.

She did it only to not have the girls for an entire weekend alone in a cabin.

Totally not fair.

She wanted to scream at them because they're not trusting her with this, and she was really looking forward to spending her time with Izzie, and only **_Izzie_**. emphasis on her girlfriend's name because it is _that_ important.

They ruined it.

And so, with slumped shoulders, she made it into her room after a heated dinner. Discussing over and over why Casey wanted to go alone, and Elsa answering with some stupid and not-even-remotely-well argument, back.

Sam sat quietly in his chair for the entire dinner. Somewhere between the screaming, he put his headphones on. Isolating the noise until he couldn't take it anymore and he abruptly stood from his spot. Marching with firm steps to his room.

That's when everyone got quiet and Casey, in her sullen state, left the parents alone by the dinner table.

She was extremely frustrated and she gets her parents, they're always trying to protect the kids' 'innocence'. It doesn't mean she's not hurt by their lack of trust.

A part of her really wanted to say she's not a virgin anymore because well, Evan. But on the other hand, she knows the guy runs into her dad at work some times because of the EMT course he's taking. So, telling that in front of her dad it'll probably end with Evan's broken nose and a grounded Casey for life.

Then she thinks of Izzie, and suddenly her eyes flicker around the room, wondering if the girl has actually thought about them taking the next step into their relationship like the people around them had.

Casey's not gonna lie.

When she's with Izzie the whole world stops, and fine, she got carried away that one time when they were alone in the kitchen and practically stopped thinking with her head and started to think with that familiar feeling that coils in her stomach.

She felt it with Evan too, just... Not that intense.

God, the way Izzie kisses her and wraps her arms around her. Standing in her tiptoes because the height difference can be seen a mile away, and the way her body clings so rightfully in hers are enough to get Casey's head spinning.

Maybe that's why she's afraid of getting too heavy on their make-out sessions. She doesn't want to get carried away because she doesn't know if Izzie is ready for that. To be honest, the thought excites her and frightens her at the same time. She would always want Izzie, but she knows nothing about the intricacies of sex with another woman and that's kinda nerve-wracking. 

Probably Izzie thinks the same.

A knock on the door brings her out of her thoughts and she muffles out a ‘come in' before walking to the small couch by the window.

"You're upset". Sam states. Sitting on the bed. Careful as always, he stares at her from across the room.

"Yep". She chimes. "I just wanted to take Izzie with me on a fun trip. Then Elsa had to go and ruin it". She inclines forward, holding her chin in her hands. Elbows resting against her thighs.

"I wanted to take the thin mints out of the fridge, but our parents were in the kitchen talking about how they stepped way over the line- which confused me because I don't know what line they're talking about". Sam scoffs funnily. And she faintly smiles at that.

Also, she's confused. Why would the thin mints cookies be in the fridge?

"I appreciate the effort, Sam. I just want to take Izzie out on a date and I’m really out of time. I want to do something special". She explains.

"You can take her to my apartment since Zahid and I decided to move in next week. When's your date?". Casey's attention perks up at the offer. "I'll have to talk to Zahid, but I don't think it'll be a problem". He shrugs.

"Dude, that'll be great. It's tomorrow night". She beams. "You can't tell Elsa, though". She points out.

"Okay". He deadpans, eyeing the biology textbook laying across her sister's bed. "That's biology".

"Ugh, don't remind me. I have to study for Wednesday". She groans, covering her face with her hands, inching backward against the backrest.

"I can help you. The last time you studied with me, you got an A. Obviously. I know everything about biology, it's my favorite subject-". Then Casey was tackling Sam to the bed with a strong hug.

* * *

"Is that a smirk?".

It is actually, and she can't help but giving her coach a bigger one after the question.

"This wasn't supposed to be fun for you, Gardner". The coach recovers from her stupor only to stare at her.

"What can I say. It's getting easier". Casey breathes out with difficulty because she's been lifting weights for the last thirty minutes and running for another thirty more.

That's when she makes it to the track field of the school.

She couldn't see Izzie this morning before class because she couldn't find the keys to Elsa's car.

She arrived late and didn't have any break after that. Also, she may have disliked Quinn a little bit today, because she took Izzie to the library for lunch to teach her maths because of a test Quinn had tomorrow.

Casey didn't want to interrupt them. She knows how Izzie gets when she's in 'teacher mode'. So, she joined Penelope at the casino.

Then it was classes and practice.

And as Casey jumps the rope, she caught sight of Izzie warming up a few feet away from her.

"Gardner". Crowley calls. It snapped Casey back to the practice at hand, but not without stealing a few glances at Izzie who finally made eye contact with her. Waving animately before chatting away with the rest of the team.

Well, Izzie's the captain. She brings trust to the rest of the team and coach Crowley confides in her to prepare a certain training routine when she’s off training with Casey, and they follow Izzie in for everything. They run sure of themselves because of Izzie's short but positive speeches and Casey's chest swells with pride knowing that Izzie is capable of taking this team to its best.

and the rest of practice goes on with her thinking about Izzie. Watching Izzie and breathing Izzie, because the girl is that intoxicating for Casey. In a good way.

She sees her girlfriend jogging across the field, closing the distance between them when both of their practices were done. Finally having a small peck on the cheek as a sign of greeting.

"Coach's still watching". Says a breathless Izzie.

"Right". Casey chuckles. "Hey, oh. I've gotta run, okay? I'll see you tonight?". She asks, kissing Izzie back in one of her cheeks. Stepping slowly backward towards the lockers' room door.

"Wouldn't miss it. So, at nine?".

"Yep. Don't be late".

//

Izzie's confusion when they went on another direction was funny as fuck.

Also, cute as fuck, because come on. It's Izzie.

Her eyes narrow. Lips in a thin-tight line. Her nose scrunches in an adorable way before she looks over at Casey, waiting for an answer.

"What?". Casey asks, giving Izzie a quick look before her eyes go back to the road.

"Should I be worried you're gonna kidnap me, Newton? 7/11 it's way back". Izzie points out with her thumb over her shoulder.

"I know". She bops her head at the rhythm of the music blasting lowly through the speakers of Elsa's car. Puffing out a laugh when Izzie gives her another confused expression. "Right. I forgot you hate spontaneous fun-trips". It earned her a punch on her shoulder. "Sam lend us his apartment". She waits expectantly for Izzie's reaction.

"Oh". And Izzie starts to fidget against her seat. She plays with the edge of her jacket as she looks at the glovebox because of the implications that come with being alone with the other and Izzie surely knows that Sam and Zahid haven't moved in yet.

"I mean- If you want to- I'll get us back, don't worry". Casey talks fast, eyes flickering to Izzie and the road, before stopping at a small return sign.

_I should've asked first. Stupid_.

"No. It's okay". Izzie grabs at her arm, gently. Reassuring. "You just caught me off guard. Come on, let's get this date going, Newton". Izzie exclaims. Giggling when Casey's uneasy expression left her face and instead, wears an amused grin.

//

Casey may or may not have been postponing the visits to Sam's apartment. She always invented some kind of lie to not help him move out.

It makes it real. Sam's gonna go and She'll be alone; with a sickened-in-love couple back at home. No one to mess up with, besides Elsa, and her best friend/brother won't be there to talk about stuff that parents can't understand.

It gets her nostalgic.

So, maybe she didn't think this through when she took upon Sam's offer.

Either way, Casey turned the keys and entered the unfamiliar foyer of the small apartment. Dropping the keys into a marble bowl that sat on top of a sideboard. Izzie follows slowly, closing the door behind them as they inspect the well-organized place.

The color blue predominated in almost every room, except Zahid's, who had a dark red color that now that Casey remembers, the guy said it was because it represents passion or some shit.

"Well, the guys did a really good job with the place". Izzie commented and Casey turned around to look at her.

Izzie doesn't wear jeans too often, but apparently she decided to do it today with the tighter and black ones she had in the closet.

A white crop top adorned her upper body, covered in a mustard jacket, and white fila tennis.

The girl had a sense of fashion, and even if Casey didn't actually care about that herself. Izzie really looked beautiful with every single outfit she wears.

"What?". Izzie asks. Breathing out a nervous laugh across the room. "Do I have something on my face?".

"You look beautiful". And Casey chuckles nervously. Avoiding Izzie who looked like a deer-caught-in-the-lights at the compliment.

Thanks to Casey's further embarrassment, Izzie got over the shock first. "You don't look too bad yourself, Casey". She said, flashing Casey a megawatt smile, and Casey couldn't help but gasp at what she was witnessing at that moment.

"Okay". Casey claps in front of her in an awkward way. Forcefully telling herself that she needs to snap out of Izzie’s perfect beauty and go back to the date at hand. "I may not have thought this as detailed as I wanted to but, I had Sam doing some shopping with Zahid at 7/11 so-". She walks to the fridge, opening the up door. "- I got us Slurpees". She points at them. And she thinks if the small smile that tugs at her lips whenever Izzie giggles because of her, would always make her weak at the knees. "And I know you wanted to try on Thai food, so I ordered that when we were on our way". She finished. Watching Izzie entering the kitchen, she hands the Slurpee to her before drinking from her own.

"You didn't have to". Izzie says sweetly.

"Well. You told me it was a date-".

"A Slurpee date and I didn't think you'd be the one doing everything". Izzie answers.

"And I wanted to upgrade it into something else, woman". Casey quipped. “While you drink that here-”. She guides Izzie to the nearby chair in the kitchen, carefully placing the girl in it. Not missing the baffled expression dancing across Izzie’s face. “- I’m gonna do something in the living room”.

“You know I can practically see everything from here, right?”. Izzie points amusedly at the living room from her spot in the kitchen of the small apartment, that didn’t have full-separated walls.

“That’s why you’re gonna turn around, Iz”. The girl rolls her eyes, feigning annoyance. She complies in the request, not holding her grin any longer as Casey exclaims from across the room to not peek.

Casey thought all night about something significative.

Then she remembers that time when she read a scary book to Izzie just to get the girl’s head out of the family drama. She recalled the way they shared bashful smiles throughout the night, and the first time they confessed to being each other’s favorite person. If she thinks about it now. Izzie’s confession was the first time Casey felt her heartbeat increase like crazy.

So, she ruffled across the living room after she discharged an inflatable mattress(that was already inflated), from under Sam's bed to throw it across the living room. Occasionally grunting because these were heavy couches and her body was mildly sore from the previous training this afternoon.

Somewhere in her mind, she kinda regrets not telling the guys to have helped her get this ready before she could get here, but the other part of her really wanted to put some effort into this date.

Date that inside her mind, she’s sure it’s gonna suck for Izzie because yes, Casey thinks this is too corny and maybe a little lame.

She’s never had a date. She knows next to nothing about impressing a girl or do something nice without her sarcasm and irony making an appearance into it.

Now that she remembers, Evan never took her out on dates. They never tried anything new. They only hanged-out at each other's rooms.

It’s when she notices that everything it’s so different with Izzie. From the dates to the way she feels with this girl. Some times it’s so overwhelming, she’s not sure this is really happening.

It’s like, whatever she felt for Evan. This time it's intensified ten-times-fold.

“What are you destroying over there?”. Izzie asks, biting her lip in anticipation.

“Almost ready”. She throws the pillows on the inflatable mattress, right when the knock on the door coming from outside the apartment door snapped her out of the concentration she was in. It meant that the food arrived just in time.

She hears Izzie chuckle as she rushes to get the food. Ignoring Izzie’s ‘what are you doing, weirdo?’, with a humorous ‘shut up’, back.

She sets the cartoon box of Thai food beside the inflatable mattress. Lighting up a few candles by the living room table that was right outside of the small place she built.

_Now I embarrass myself in front of Izzie for the rest of my life for being too cheesy with this._

She approaches Izzie from behind as she clears her throat.

“You can turn around”. She informs.

Izzie doesn’t waste any time in doing so. She stands from the seat and turns around, and right as she inches closer to Casey. Her eyes fall into the small fort waiting by the living room.

“Holy shit, Newton”. Izzie says in an unfamiliar high-pitched voice as she grabs Casey’s arm like she needs to steady herself.

“You hate it”. Casey assumed. “It was stupid, right?”.

“No. It’s-”. Izzie locks eyes with her, and Casey thinks her world just stopped. She’s never seen the glint playing by Izzie’s eyes before, and right at that moment, both girls thought that they couldn’t remember ever seeing the other look so beautiful. “- This is a really nice surprise, Casey”. Izzie says the short-haired girl’s name with a new fond tenderness in her voice. “It’s really thoughtful”. Izzie adds, approaching the small entrance of the fort. She takes Casey’s hand, unable to stop the wide smile from showing as she looks at Casey right in the eyes. “You even hang lights inside, and this is even bigger than the last one”. She gleams.

“I didn’t want to get candles, you know? In case we had a bad misfortune and ended up burning the place down”. She shrugs. Shivering at the tender touch of Izzie’s fingers grazing her palm before taking the hand in a soft grip.

“Why are you so smart?”. Izzie rolls her eyes. Bites her lips as she pulls at Casey’s hand, inching her closer.

“Pfff, I know, right? I’ve been told a couple of times”. Casey whispers. The playfulness nowhere to be seen because of Izzie’s closeness occupying every single cell in her body to just react when the girl leaned forward, finally getting to kiss her.

Izzie’s hands come up, holding her cheeks on either side of her face in a tender grip. Her thumbs crawling softly against Casey’s jaw as hot breaths meet when they lean back before reconnecting again.

This time, firmer. Tender. Unhurried. They smile into the kiss, not really getting used to the sensation of feeling soft, wet lips eager to return the sentiment at hand, as they parted.

“We should get the food”. Casey murmurs against Izzie’s lips.

“Sure”. Izzie nods against Casey’s forehead.

“Get in, ma’am”. Casey exclaim in a false man voice, guiding Izzie into the fort.

“You don’t have to ask me twice, Newton”. The black-haired girl replied with a mischievous smile on her face, and did as she was told; taking the opportunity to drag Casey even more close by her side as they sat on the mattress.

Casey hands the boxes of Thai food before falling into a comfortable silence as they eat. She would catch sight of Izzie’s wandering eyes between bites as if the girl was still trying to convince herself that this date. Here, with Casey, and this fort was happening all at once.

The way Izzie’s eyes traveled through the beautiful lights, made her eyes sparkle in a new way that Casey may have dropped a few grains of rice against her lap when that happened.

What Casey didn’t know, it’s that Izzie has been stealing glances on her own, and never in a million years, Izzie would’ve thought that she would be so enamored with Casey in such a short time, that she didn’t know what to do with the feel of having her so close, and be able to call Casey hers.

And with that thought in mind, she took another bite from her food. Smiling, she lost herself in the woman she had by her side.

//

“That was so good!”. Izzie exclaims, watching how Casey let the now, empty contents on the side before she falls backward, comfortably onto the mattress. Casey mimicking her actions too. Both turning to their sides. Face to face, sighing contently into the intimate fort. “Newton?”. Izzie asks, and Casey’s attention perks up.

“Yeah?”.

“You really make me feel-”. She shakes her head, trying to come up with the right words. “-I’m so happy right now. I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy before”. She finished, shyly in a whisper.

A timid smile adorned both girls’ faces, and Casey could only shrug bashfully at the confession

“We can stay in here forever if you want-”. Casey starts, re-acting the first time they were in this situation.“- We can pee in a can, do college classes online. We can- Steal the guys’ living room for the sake of this awesome fort. Get a couple of cats”. This time, Izzie’s chuckle gets into her bones like no other, and she really wants to hear that sound for the rest of her life. “Come here”. She demands softly, tugging at Izzie’s waist until they could feel the warmth coming from each other’s body.

“You really _are_ my favorite person, Newton”. Izzie licks her lips, and Casey feels her throat thicken further.

“You’re my favorite person too”. They smile softly at each other. “I think you can tell this to Sharice, eventually”. She remembers the previous dialogue.

Izzie shook her head. Her eyes bore into Casey’s like no other and it’s not until now that Casey realized she’s looking at Izzie in the same way.

She almost missed the way Izzie raises her hand until the palm is tenderly posing against her jaw, and Izzie’s hand is soft. Comforting, and it feels good. So good that her eyes in a mind of its own, flicker down to the girl’s lip. Her hand by Izzie’s waist plucks at the girl’s waistband of her jeans. It is an unconscious move that gets Izzie’s breath to quicken in the small tent.

Their eyes meet, and suddenly they’re in this trance they can’t get out of.

There’s something in Izzie’s eyes that tell Casey that maybe they shouldn’t keep going because there’s definitely nerves surrounding them, but then the shorter girl it’s clasping against the collar of her t-shirt, bringing them even closer than before.

That was Casey’s green light to stop thinking about everything altogether… And she brushes her lips against Izzie.

Eyes close at the feeling. A shot of adrenaline pass through them, and Casey’s sure Izzie could feel and hear her racing heart.

Their lips part and Casey can’t seem to gain control back. “Izzie”. She breathes out, shakily. Hooded eyes look back at her, and she’s sure it mimics her own.

Then Izzie is kissing her again.

An urgency that wasn’t there before takes over both of their bodies. Casey’s hand grasping at Izzie’s waist to bring her closer. No space between them could be allowed, and there’s a moan threatening to leave her lips as Izzie parts hers slightly, inviting Casey to fall in it.

There’s no fighting. No control and she gasps at the feeling of Izzie’s tongue by her bottom lip, asking for permission.

The kiss intensifies, and suddenly she’s rendering into the feeling of Izzie’s rapid breathing escaping and crashing against her mouth whenever they move to a new angle. A new wave of excitement curses through Casey when Izzie grabs the front of her t-shirt by her chest as if she was desperately trying to melt them into one.It causes Casey to throw caution out of the window. She props herself up on her elbow. Her other hand pushing slightly at Izzie’s waist, silently telling her to fall against the mattress as she shifts above the girl, laying half on top of her.

Then, Izzie is moaning against her mouth, and hands make their way to tangle into her hair, tightening at the back of her head as the kiss doesn’t lose strength.

They haven’t had this kind of make out sessions before, but they move together like they’ve been doing this forever, and still, it has that timidity and that thrill in it that sky-rockets whenever they touch or sigh breathlessly against the other mouth. Casey couldn’t remember the exact moment, but then she feels her hand pushing against the fabric of Izzie’s jacket, asking silently with the tug of it, if it was okay to take that item of clothes off.

A task that the black-haired girl happily allows getting herself out of it.

The new movement of the girls made the perfect opportunity. Both shifting inside the fort until Casey’s settled between a pair of strong thighs.

Izzie gasps at the new contact, possibly grinding against Casey’s toned stomach, but no one could really tell if it happened. Everything was too much. And the warmth in Izzie’s mouth was so inviting, that she groans against Izzie’s mouth before reality came crushing back on then.

Casey’s hand seemed to have a mind of its own, and as the hand leaves Izzie’s waist, shifting upwards until is beneath Izzie’s back. She touches the girl’s bra strap, right as a hand comes up, stopping her mid-movement.

“Casey…”. Izzie breathes out, quiveringly.

It was enough to make Casey snap back. She jumps to the side, falling against the mattress. Covering her eyes with the palms of her hands. “I am so, so sorry. I don’t know what came over me. I-”.

“Newton”. She feels Izzie’s fingers wrap against her wrists, pulling slightly at them to get Casey to make eye contact with her. “You did nothing wrong. I just-”. She sighs loudly. “I’m not… I’m not ready”. She shuts her eyes in embarrassment, missing the nod of acknowledgment that came from Casey.

That’s the moment Casey recognized the look on Izzie’s eyes. The same one she saw when they were driving to Sam’s.

_She must have thought something like this was going to happen and she freaked out. God, I’m such an idiot._

“I didn’t mean to push you, Iz”. Casey apologizes in a small voice, whilst Izzie falls at her side, cuddling and snuggling against her as she always does, no awkwardness at all after the girl’s confession and that in itself, calmed Casey a lot.

“You didn’t”. It came out calm. “I knew it could lead to something like this. It’s kind of hard to resist you, Newton”. And Izzie props herself with her hand on Casey’s chest. Looking down at her with an adoring smile before dropping a tender peck on the taller girl’s lip, giggling at the wide eyes she found after her statement.

“God. Stooop”. Casey pushes her playfully until the girl is laying her head on her chest once again.

“I’m gonna tell you something but you gotta promise, not to laugh”. Izzie inquires.

“Cross my heart”. Casey makes the movement as best as she can, giving that Izzie had half of her body laying above her.

“I- I never had sex with Nate”. Izzie lets out quickly.

Silence followed, and they could only hear their breathings.

“-But Penelope and Quinn joked about you and Nate-”. She scrunches her nose in disgust, thankful for Izzie’s interruption.

“They made fun of me when I was in freshman year. So, I lied”. Izzie shrugs against her. “When Nate and I got together I finally got them off my back. That’s why they teased me in front of you… I never- With anyone. I didn’t want to be like my mom. I want it to be special”. Izzie nods to herself. “Is that lame?”.

“No. No. Of course not”. Casey kisses her forehead, rubbing her hand against the bare skin of Izzie’s soft arm. “I think that’s a wise decision”.

And Izzie hummed against her chest. Cuddling closer to her as silence made it into their fort. Sleepiness came with time, and both of them doze off into dreamland. Content in each other’s arm.

* * *

A week passed in the blink of an eye, and with studies and training, Casey couldn’t help but go back to that morning at Sam’s.

She woke up to the smell of bacon and eggs, and a dancing Izzie cocking in the stove.

She couldn’t believe she spent an entire night and almost all afternoon of the next day with the woman she likes.

“Why are you smiling so much? Seriously, Gardner. This wasn’t supposed to be fun for you”. Crowley asks as Casey enters the coach’s office.

“I wasn’t”. Casey deadpans, putting on her stoic expression as she sits across the desk.“You wanted to see me?”. She asks, earning her a ‘duh’ expression coming from her coach.

“You know Izzie was the youngest girl to enter the track team?”. Coach starts.

“No?”. Casey says confused. She was sure she read on the pamphlets that the whole Clayton prep could make it into the team.

“I was at a track meet in preparatory when I saw her. At the time, Clayton didn’t accept freshman into any extracurricular; because it’s Clayton. The place is demanding and it could cause a lot of stress into someone who just made it into high school”.

Casey nods slowly, not sure where this was going.

“I applied for a special inclusion. Got it. I got Izzie into the team. The girl has potential, such as you”. She tilts her chin. “Can I rant to you about it?”.

“Sure”.

“Right before sophomore year, before you changed schools, a scout got his eyes on Izzie but the moment he made it into regionals. Izzie bailed, never told the team why”.

_Probably because of her shitty mother_. Casey thought.

“I don’t understand-”.

“He’s coming back for this next meet after new year's eve. I need you to make sure Izzie doesn’t bail”.

_Holy shit._

“Count me in”. She says, sure of herself. Sure of Izzie. The girl is gonna charm that scout’s pants out. She knows. “Does Izzie know?”. She asks after a while.

“Let’s keep it a secret”. Crowley's smile fell at Casey’s expression. “I don’t know if she bailed out for being too nervous or something, I don’t want her to throw this opportunity away again”. Crowley explained. “I need you to train her. Get her to do the same you’re doing”.

“I don’t think it’s gonna be hard. Izzie’s driven. She’ll love it”. Casey says enthusiastically. “Can I ask what college is trying to recruit her?”.

“USC”.

And Casey’s mouth drops on the floor.

_It’s freaking L.A_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys... Can you imagine our girls in L.A 
> 
> Next chapter, we're digging a little deeper into Izzie's life again. 
> 
> Have a good night/day.
> 
> p.s: Remember to ask Netflix and SPTV to renew atypical. I sure as hell am.

**Author's Note:**

> If you made it 'till the end.
> 
> I love you :)


End file.
